Russ Nelson : life http://blog.russnelson.com/life/index.rss
Russ Nelson's personal blogenHow to lose weighthttp://blog.russnelson.com/life/how-to-lose-weight.html
<p>A lot of people want to lose weight, but struggle with it. I think I know why.
Everybody's felt "hunger pangs", even if only a little bit. Well, I speculate that is
because your gut bacteria are starting to die off. If you just eat fewer calories, your
bacteria are going to start complaining that you're kill them, and you'll "feel like"
eating more food.</p>
<p>That's why calorie-restriction diets don't work -- because you're *always* killing
off your bacteria. But how can you lose weight unless you restrict calories? As dieticians
are happy to tell you, "calories in - calories out = weight gain". But we're finding
out that that's not true. It's when you spike your blood sugar that fat gets stored. If
you eat the same amount of calories, but spread out over time (lots of small meals), or
more conveniently, meals that include <em>only</em> foods that don't spike your blood
sugar, then that energy will always be available to you for use, and none for storage.</p>
<p>But here's the problem: as long as you're eating <em>any</em> high-glycemic index foods,
the bacteria that digest them will stay alive. And if you try to stop, they'll complain, and
you'll always feel hungry. The key is to eat only low-glycemic index foods. That will kill off,
once and for all, those bacteria that demand high-glycemic index foods.</p>
<p>So when you switch to a low-glycemic index foods (low carb, high fat, or LCHF), you'll still have
the bacteria that love carbs, and they'll create gastic distress, hunger pangs, and loose motions.
You need to presevere through this time. It's tolerable because it's just a few days.
Once you kill them off (and it takes about five days to do that), you'll feel ordinary hunger pangs
when you don't eat enough LCHF. And you'll start to lose weight.</p>
<p>There are two exceptions to eating high glycemic index foods. First, is that when you rip muscle
tissue, your body will consume (rather than store) blood sugar to repair them. You can feel when you're
doing this through your exercise. Not all exercise will do that. Sprinting usually will, or lifting
more weights, or walking up more stairs. Second, binge day. Once a week you can binge on carbs. As long
as it's just for one day, the carb-loving bacteria won't have a chance to start infesting your gut.</p>
<p>Note: I've gone through this transition several times, so I think I'm right. I don't know, however,
of any studies that show that one type of bacteria thrives on carbs, while another type thrives on fat.
Neither have I gone looking for any.</p>
Your body runs on sugar.http://blog.russnelson.com/life/your-body-runs-on-sugar.html
<p>Your body runs on sugar. Period. Doesn't matter the source, except it really does. You can get it directly from sugar, by eating a candy bar. You can get it from carbs such as wheat, potatoes, rich, anything starchy. Or you can get it from fat.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you can't actually digest fat. Your stomach can't deal with it. But the bacteria which live in your intestines can. So, you eat fat two days before the ride. You eat carbs the day before the ride. Then you eat sugary foods the day of the ride.</p>
<p>If you have no stored fat, like most serious cyclists, you HAVE NO CHOICE but to run off of eaten food. If you run out of that energy, you are DEAD IN THE WATER. Can't emphasize that enough.</p>
<p>Now, if you have stored fat, you can actually run off of that. You have to get your body to start digesting itself. As you might expect, your body does not do that lightly. When you get to the point where you need stored fat, your body will try to convince you to STOP doing whatever you're doing. You will become tired. You will become listless. You will become depressed. You will question why the hell you ever set out on the ride.</p>
<p>If you push through, your body will start to burn stored fat. If you have no stored fat, your body will start to burn muscle. This is extremely bad for your health, which is why your body will try to stop you. Push through only if you have stored fat.</p>
<p>Moral of the story: bring food unless you're trying to lose weight; in which case do not eat food (because that will stop the process of burning fat).</p>
Gastric Upsethttp://blog.russnelson.com/life/gastric-upset.html
<p> :) I have a theory about gastric upset: what you can successfully eat
*and gain nutrition from* depends on your gastric bacteria load. If
you change what you eat, you need different bacteria. Swapping out
the bacteria is not a pleasant experience.</p>
<p>So it's not about food poisoning, but instead about food *type*
poisoning.</p>
Our first apartmenthttp://blog.russnelson.com/life/our-first-apartment.html
<p>Our first apartment was across the street from the doughnut shop. It had
several interesting characteristics:
<ul>
<li>Our second apartment had the ground-fault "interrupter" miswired so that it would fire whenever you turned anything on, but ... it didn't stop the flow of electricity either.
<li>That same apartment's front door latch didn't go all the way into the striker, so you could bump the door open easily.
<li>AND the hot and cold were backwards on the water heater, so the hot came out the bottom and the cold came in the top. You pretty much had to take a shower with one hand on the handle, adjusting the temperature as the water mixed.
<li>AND the kitchen cabinets fell off the wall while I was making <a href="russnelson.com/clam-fritters.html">clam fritters</a>. We never HAVE had clam fritters. I shudder to think what would happen if we did.
<li>AND there were gaps in the walls between apartments so you could clearly hear what people in the next apartment over were saying. The couple next to us, well, one wanted to marry and the other not. That was their favorite fight.
</ul></p>
The Secret of Push Handshttp://blog.russnelson.com/life/the-secret-of-push-hands.html
<p>I have ascertained the secret of Tai Chi Push Hands. This is a system
of study to the end of being able to push an opponent so hard that they go
flying across the room. It's not fake. It's real. I've had it done to me,
and I've seen it done to others.</p>
<p>The way it works is simple but subtle. The master of the art knows
how to get you off balance so quickly that your body jumps in order to stay
in balance. You can see this for yourself when you walk on ice, and the
supporting foot slips out from underneath you. You don't fall; instead you
jump up and use your unweighted leg to get your weighted leg back underneath
you.</p>
<p>The master simulates this by determining (through years of practice)
where your balance is weakest. He then pushes you in that direction, very
gently, but quickly. If this is done correctly, you jump backwards to
keep your balance. The master exerts very little force, but induces you
to do all the movement.</p>
<p>This is a very effective fighting art, because in a fight between peers,
the fight is won by the person with the greater stamina. If the master is
constantly forcing you to exert great effort, with very little effort on
his part, you will be exhausted before he is even winded.</p>
The Rival Studenthttp://blog.russnelson.com/life/the-rival-student.html
<p>The Rival Student goes to the Master and says "Master, demonstrate your
system on me so that I may decide if I want to be your student." The Master
soundly defeats the Rival Student's every attack.</p>
<p>The Rival Student goes away thinking "He is a fraud. He only used his
physical strength, no qigong at all."</p>
<p>The Master thinks "... and he couldn't even stop my physical strength.
Not much of a student."</p>
Boonies of Boonvillehttp://blog.russnelson.com/life/boonies-of-boonville.html
<p>I've been looking for unfinished railroads via map services again. I think
I've found the tunnel that the <a href="http://russnelson.com/unfinished-railroads.html#OgdensburghClaytonandRome">Ogdensburg, Clayton &amp; Rome</a> built
near Pixley Falls in the Boonville Gorge. I also have a candidate road
for this "<a href="http://www.paulkeeslerbooks.com/BoonvilleGorge.html">cut and abutment</a>". Look on the <a href="http://rutlandtrail.org/mapview.cgi?lat=43.412&long=-75.333&scale=13&theme=Historic">Historic USGS</a> maps. Look at
the red circle, and the road just to the south of it. That road heads down
the hill. Where it crosses the driver is approximately one and a half miles
below upper Lansing Kill Falls, just as described. I'll have to look in
person, but I'm reasonably confident that it's not the railroad.</p>
<p>Just to the left of the red circle is a large flat spot on the side of
the hill. On the south end of the flat spot, next to the aforementioned
road, is a house. I'd guess that somebody wanted a farm with a view.
I can't see any ruins of a farm there, but you can <a href="http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.40721,-75.34304&z=16&t=S">look at the farm site</a> for yourself
and see if you can see it. Switch to Satellite for high-resolution photos.</p>
GPS Receivershttp://blog.russnelson.com/life/gps-receivers.html
<p>Do I have too many GPS receivers? A Delorme Earthmate (RS-232), a
Navman 3000 sleeve for an iPAQ, a Delorme USB receiver, a bluetooth combination
compass and receiver, a Nokie n810, a Garmin foretrex 201, an el-cheapo
USB GPS receiver for my OLPC XO.</p>
<p>And if you want to count cellphones, my OpenMoko will spit out NMEA.</p>
Anathem and Hemn spacehttp://blog.russnelson.com/life/anathem.html
<p>All points in Hemn space are possible, including the ice block inside
the star. Stephenson wastes some time (as no doubt have metaphilosophers)
considering how the ice block could have gotten there. It is of no importance
to the idea, because "gotten there" introduces the idea of time. Hemn
space is merely an enumeration of all possible states of all possible worlds.
</p>
<p>More mention is made of "the laws of nature", but again, the laws of
nature are at least in part a consideration of time. We live in time, and
like fishes cannot conceive of water, have a hard time (hehe) thinking of
a world without time. So, introduce time.</p>
<p>How does the ice block get into the star? We can ignore that, but consider
that time is a path through Hemn space. Time is a connection between points.
A Narrative is but one possible path of time through those points. So what,
then, of the laws of nature? Simply, they dictate that some paths are not
possible. For example, the 2nd law of thermodynamics disallows any path
which results in a decrease in entropy.</p>
<p>So the path which skips you from point to point to point where the
ice cube never melts, is not possible with a world with a 2nd law of
thermodynamics.</p>
<p>Interesting stuff.</p>
Potsdam's Raymond Street Water Planthttp://blog.russnelson.com/life/raymond-water-plant.html
<p>I really like retrophotos. That's where somebody goes to a
location with an old photo, and takes a modern version of the same
photo. Here's my contribution to the genre. This is Potsdam, NY's
old water plant, built in the 1800's. The 2008 photo has the modern
water plant in the foreground.</p>
<p>Old photos courtesy of the <a href="http://potsdammuseum.org/">Potsdam Public Museum</a>, 2008.</p>
<p><a href="http://russnelson.com/retro-photos/raymond-water-plant-1900.jpg" title="1900s Potsdam Public Museum 2008 (Full size)">
<img alt="1900s Potsdam Public Museum 2008 (Thumbnail)" src="/thumbs/tmpY3-hUU.png"/>
</a><a href="http://russnelson.com/retro-photos/raymond-water-plant-1970s.jpg" title="1970s Potsdam Public Museum 2008 (Full size)">
<img alt="1970s Potsdam Public Museum 2008 (Thumbnail)" src="/thumbs/tmpz6uuAt.png"/>
</a><a href="http://russnelson.com/retro-photos/raymond-water-plant-2008.jpg" title="2008 (Full size)">
<img alt="2008 (Thumbnail)" src="/thumbs/tmpXUd-n_.png"/>
</a></p>